Passaic principal aquitted of sex crime sues State Police

A Passaic County middle school principal who was acquitted in October on all charges of groping a 13-year-old Sussex County girl during and after a Jets football game nearly four years ago, is suing the New Jersey State Police for "false arrest and malicious prosecution."

Frank Mobilio, 47, of Ridgewood and formerly of Wantage, filed a lawsuit today in federal U.S. District Court in Newark that also names as defendants the state Division of Law and Public Safety and New Jersey State Police Detective Brian Long, an investigator on the case.

Mobilio had been arrested on Oct. 15, 2003 on charges of groping the girl three days earlier during a trip to Giants Stadium, which was not school-related. He faced up to six and a half years in prison but was acquitted by a jury on all counts in a trial on Oct. 19 in Superior Court in Newton.

The lawsuit claims an affidavit for Mobilio's arrest was largely based on a statement given to police by another man on the trip, Albert Bosma, a friend of Mobilio's who initially said he saw Mobilio groping the girl, but retracted that statement in April 2005.

The lawsuit claims Bosma was "intimidated, threatened and required to give a false statement by the defendant, Brian Long."